


Cold

by jimoriarty



Category: Avengers (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Incredible Hulk (2008), The Incredible Hulk (Comics)
Genre: Bruce Banner & Clint Barton Friendship, Bruce Banner & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Bruce Banner & Steve Rogers friendship, Bruce Banner & Thor Friendship, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Bruce Banner Has Issues, Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Bruce Banner-centric, Character Study, Hulk Needs a Hug, I think?, Injury, Minor Injuries, POV Bruce Banner, also bruce is naked, basically bruce saying fuck it life is shit anyway, thats all i can think of, this is the first time ive written anything like this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-07-18 19:05:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16124804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jimoriarty/pseuds/jimoriarty
Summary: Written for the prompt cold for Bruce Week 2018. Unbeta’d.





	Cold

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first thing I wrote in about a month. Unbeta’d and written in about an hour. Don’t be too harsh, uwuwu.

It always goes like this. His naked form is covered in a thin layer of snow, falling onto his lap when he sits up. Shaking hands move up to his face; his entire body is cold.

As normal as it’s gotten, it humiliates him. Nobody wants to wake up like this. Nobody wants to feel like this, naked and vulnerable when he’d been so strong hours before.

Bruce wishes he didn’t have to be either. He wishes his lips weren’t chapped like they always were, and his skin always a faint tint of red. He wishes he didn’t feel like throwing up his guts whenever he gets back to himself — though he has to admit, it seems manageable today. He wishes he could be stronger, just a little, without needing the Hulk. Without the Hulk needing him.

Natasha and Clint don’t speak on it, but the invites to join them for takeout and a movie say enough. Thor makes it clear that he thinks of Bruce as he thinks of any noble warrior and praises him for his bravery. On some days, they’re the only things that make him feel okay.

On other days he goes into the lab for forty-eight hours at once. Tony joins him and babbles about everything he can think of. He doesn’t expect Bruce to talk back, but Tony always smiles when he does.

His good days are when the door to his room is open and he spends his time upside down on a yoga mat. Steve is quiet when he joins him and only speaks up to ask for instructions, or to express the occasional interest for Bruce’s wellbeing.

It always goes like this. He gets up and moves on, because it’s the only choice he has. So Bruce stands up and finds an old newspaper to cover himself with, begins his walk of shame, and makes his way to the tower.

The Hulk is quiet when he finally gets home. He assumes the big guy’s content now he’s had his fun, and Bruce minds a little less than the last time when his bare ass is in the paper the next day. It always goes like this. And maybe that’s okay.


End file.
